The dreaded drop
-
Hello all,
So a sister site has contacted me about their drop in traffic, around January they created a page, (and I kid you not), with a title of "Banner Link Exchange", it took me about ten minutes to stop laughing. Around the 16th of July their traffic dropped like a stone (see image).
Obviously I've had them remove the page and we've contacted the sites that they swapped links with, there are 20+). I'm going to give them a week then I'm going to disavow the links. Interestingly the brand keywords are all still at position one, but it's decimated any product and broad search links. I've had them create a blog and they're going to contact the sites they were linking with and write some proper articles. We'll clean up their backlink profile and any site issues they have. It's an ecommerce site so the projected take is down around 40%
My question is are there any indications after fixing as much as possible that the traffic will return, and in what period of time? (i'm seeing conflicting ideas about this)
We can't change the site domain as there's a physical store as well... the domain was first used in 1996...
Cheers
Stew
-
Hi Bruce, thanks for responding again, no we're not running adwords, we have some products that google doesn't like.
I've looked through the sources, it's literally just the google traffic that's died a death, although in general the conversion rate on the traffic is abysmal, circa 1% when my site is more like 3% for very similar products..
-
Hi
Are you running Adwords and Google Products?
Have you switched to the new Google Shopping in Adwords? If so this could be the problem. If you have switched (as everyone has too during August) a significant drop in sales coming from the new shopping campaigns in Adwords might be the source. We have noticed this too and spoken to Google Adwords about it.
Worth checking this out, as this might help? Check GA to see conversions by channel
Bruce
-
Thanks Bruce, I am looking at it from as many angles as possible
It's an ecomms site for a bricks and mortar store, the keywords that are still at number one are all brand keywords that bring up their local result page and their homepage, the 40% drop in revenue is directly from the search channel, everything else is as effective as before. Funnily enough I'd just been nosey and started to track their keywords just before they dropped, you can see the change point...
-
What might be interesting to check out is this: Is this now the genuine real traffic that the site generated and therefore is now realistic?
Often when problems are fixed, what you start to see is the real figures behind the site.
Check GWT and also GA to see if the two are matching trends. Often impression are only that, impressions and what matters is the real bottom line. Those who engaged and purchased might be found to be equal to that of before, although you mention that take is down 40%. Although if keywords are still at No1, then somethiing appears to be not quite right in the numbers.
Without knowing the industry, seasonal flutation can be that dramatic, due to rain, snow, sun etc.
Validate the data from all sources and cross match to get more evidence
Just a few thoughts.
Bruce
-
Thanks Malcolm, I need to talk to our board tomorrow and want to manage their expectations...
-
Thanks both, there wasn't any notice from Google, but i can't see anything more egregious than that page
We're working on a content strategy, fortunately it's a niche market and the store has a good reputation so we can leverage that.
The link exchange did boost the traffic, although it wasn't particularly good in boosting the revenue, i guess it's best endeavours and see what happens!
-
I would suggest you certainly take the steps to have the link removed. Disavowing links would be my next immediate step in this process. I have seen sites recover within 4-6 months and others take up to 12 months.
Malcom
-
How much traffic can return is dependent on how much traffic the link exchange brought in. Your best case scenario for the immediate future would be to get back to around the same levels before they implemented the page...assuming you get all the bad links removed.
Sidenote, sending a few emails and waiting a week may not be enough for google to move on your disavow request, but it's a start.
Good luck,
Ruben
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
DA dropped immediately
Hi, I just got up today to see that my 2 sites - Site1 and Site2 got dropped from 25 to 23 and from 22 to 16. I am so confused why did this happen, I could not see any spam links and so. Is there any fault that has been detected.
Link Building | | VS-Gary3 -
Has anyone seen a recent drop in Page Authority?
We have seen a sizeable drop in Page Authority for three of our key category pages over the last one week.The total number of linking root domains has increased for all the three pages. We have disavowed a few spammy links but we doubt that would cause a drop in page authority. The domain authority is unchanged.Is there any way we could figure out the cause of the drop? Has anyone else also noticed a drop in page authority for their pages? Hello,We have seen a sizeable drop in Page Authority for three of our key category pages over the last one week.The total number of linking root domains has increased for all the three pages. We have disavowed a few spammy links but we doubt that would cause a drop in page authority. The domain authority is unchanged.Is there any way we could figure out the cause of the drop? Has anyone else also noticed a drop in page authority for their pages?
Link Building | | vikassocialbeat0 -
Dropped domains are really helpful for backlinks?
Hi, I'm new link builder and I'm making backlink for my different clients. Just want to increase my knowledge is dropped domains are really helpful or just I'm waiting my time. Other thing is any negative effect on my client website if I create backlinks from dropped domains?. Mean I've submit guest post for my client website on http://wikipathia.com PR 4 and DA 20+ so can I continue my guest post work or leave it? Also I'm sharing some website for guest post. Where I'm interested to submit guest post. http://lookinsidethetower.org
Link Building | | KLLC
http://rouselegal.net/
http://wikipathia.com
http://amy-henderson.com
http://biztbuy.com
http://faaforum.com
http://builderspress.com
http://genista.net/
http://hohumhouse.com/
http://refreshthepage.net
http://redswindow.com
http://valmez.net
http://hangallery.net
http://gridwear.net
http://max4rent.com
http://dodress.net
http://apparel-japan.com/
http://blackroots.net
http://gecoders.com
http://labho.com
http://lokmanhekim.org
http://holddress.com
http://willdress.net/
http://obayoo.com
http://exclamationpoints000casino.com/
http://webdesignlists.com
http://becsta.net
http://dordogneholidayrental.com
http://metalaqua.com/
http://nightsjob.com
http://now2business.co.uk Thanks and waiting for your feedback.0 -
If a bad link domain drops from my site do I regain authority.
Hi Guys, I wanted to know for example if 2 years ago I purchased SEO from some guys that were building links to sites that had very high PR which was important way back when. And now those links are negatively affecting my SEO stopping me reaching position 1 for a term 'replacement keys' and we are stuck in position 2. If the sites were to be reset or domains sold for those sites that were linking in do you think this was remove the penalty on us as a knock-on effect. Thanks James
Link Building | | jameslane880 -
SEO Drop rename pages
Some of key product pages have dropped due to what I think is overused anchor text. Can we rename them, and start again?
Link Building | | jj34340 -
Position Drop - Anchor Text Penalty
Hi - About a month ago we dropped out of all out top position ranking and now can be found around page 600 on Google for all those keywords. I feel this is because our SEO company over used or money keywords as anchor text - Could this be correct?
Link Building | | jj34340 -
Drop in Links According to Webmaster Tools
Webmaster tools is telling me the links to my site has dropped by 100,000 links in one month. Can someone please tell me what may have happened?
Link Building | | Professor0